Henry, Susan L.

1981

Delaware Department of Transportation, Division of Highways, Working Draft Toward a Historic Research Design.

Prepared by the Delaware Department of Transportation. Delaware Department of Transportation Archaeology Series No. 19.

DelDOT Archaeology Series No. 19 sets forth a preliminary historic research design for use on historic archaeological sites. The research design incorporates a general model for the distribution of historic archaeological sites across the landscape and a model for the development of individual settlements over time.

The transportation system is proposed as a general framework for the model because transportation is considered to be a primary factor in historic site location. The transportation system includes both the physical network and the technology of transportation. A typology (and ranking) of transportation routes, based on distance, amount of connectivity, and means of transport, is provided.

A number of factors are considered in the model, including: population size and density, the economics of marketing, physical and social geography, technological innovations, governmental action, and social concerns. A hierarchical typology of settlements within a region is introduced, based on economics, relative size, settlement functions, and structural density. Settlement types include: homestead, hamlet, village, town, frontier town, mercantile city, and industrial city.

The author discusses the application of the location and settlement development models, and suggests the types of data necessary to use the model and the site typology. She suggests that various classes of artifacts can be used to characterize the interaction between settlements and to compare the development of different settlement types.